February 1, 2015

Small Fruit Series: Four Sundays in February at 5050 SE Stark

with Ken Whitten of Portland Nursery
The shrubs and vines of these tasty berries and fruits are key elements in an edible landscape plan. Learn about the needs and qualities of different varieties that do well in this area, and how they can make your garden beautiful as well as providing tasty fruit for fresh eating or preserving. Classes in this series can be taken separately. Note special time for these classes.

The Essentials of a Garden Plan Workshop

A great garden begins with a great plan! Sign up quick for this great opportunity to get individual attention in planning your 2015 vegetable garden. Marc Scheidecker is a full-time, year-round vegetable gardener and student of gardening, focusing solely on growing vegetables. We will be developing a plan for each person's garden so the class will be limited to 10 people. Measure your garden and bring the dimensions to class; graph paper and pencil will be provided.

Medicinal Plants

with Gradey Proctor of the Arctos School of Herbal Studies.
Join Gradey Proctor of the Arctos School of Herbal Studies for a class on the common medicinal plants that are easily grown in Northwest gardens. In fact, some of these plants may already be living in your garden! There are even examples of what we view as weeds as actually having medicinal usefulness. Gradey will discuss the healing properties of medicinal plants and some ways in which these garden herbs can be processed for medicine.

Home Composting

with Glen Andresen.
Learn the basics of how to make compost in your own backyard. Join conservation enthusiast, Glen Andresen as he walks you through the process of transforming your food scraps and yard debris into rich, fertile compost. Glen will discuss compost “ingredients”, various compost bin designs, basic composting science, and troubleshooting tips. This is a great class for beginners and will cover everything you need to know to get your own compost pile started, focusing solely on growing vegetables.

February 7-8, 2015

Come pick out some sweet handmade cards and t-shirts for your sweetie, and help support Portland’s community gardening programs!

5050 SE STARK • Saturday • February 7 • 10:00am-3:00pm

What to do in the February Vegetable Garden

with Your Backyard Farmers.Join Donna and Robyn, of Your Backyard Farmer, for a great refresher on what to do in the veggie garden for the month of February. They will cover topics such as seeding and planting cool season crops, preparing and improving your soils, and how to be best prepared for the spring!

Growing Vegetables from Seed

with Ian Wilson of Portland Edible Gardens.
Come learn about the joys and benefits of growing vegetables from seeds planted straight into your garden! This class will cover where to source your seeds, which vegetables grow best from seeds, when and how to plant and care for your seeds, and much more! Save money, increase plant health, and witness the wonders of veggies grown from seeds!

Small Fruit Series: Blueberries

with Ken Whitten of Portland Nursery
The shrubs and vines of these tasty berries and fruits are key elements in an edible landscape plan. Learn about the needs and qualities of different varieties that do well in this area, and how they can make your garden beautiful as well as providing tasty fruit for fresh eating or preserving.

Basics of Winter Pruning

with Dave Pell of Quiet Man Garden and Tree Care.
Bare branches and plant dormancy make late winter a good time to prune a number of things in the garden, from vines and shrubs to trees. Dave will tell you about some of the things that should (and should not!) be pruned around this time, and how they should be pruned to improve structure and guide future growth.

Staghorn Fern Mounting Workshop

with Bruce Fothergill of Fothergill’s Tropicals.Join houseplant expert Bruce Fothergill, of Fothergill’s Tropicals, for this hands-on workshop and take home your very own mounted Staghorn Fern! Bruce will walk you through the step-by-step process of properly mounting Staghorns to wooden boards. He will also discuss proper care, lighting and growing requirements to keep your fern healthy and happy for years to come!

Materials Fee: $15, payable to teacher day of class (**Cash or check only). All materials included. Class limited to 15.

Fruit Tree Care 101

with Monica Maggio of Core Home Fruit.
Thinking of growing fruit trees on your urban lot? Learn some great tips and techniques for successfully growing fruit trees with Monica of Core Home Fruit. She’ll discuss site requirements & preparation, pollination needs, maintenance requirements of different fruits, and how to select good fruit trees for PNW home orchards. We get all of our fruit trees in February, making this class timely to help you succeed with your new fruit tree.

Growing Orchids in Terrariums

with Michael Jenne of the Oregon Orchid Society.
In follow up to basic orchid growing, miniature orchids and high humidity types can present problems when grown in the home. Terrarium growing is a good way to meet these challenges. Yet, orchids have specific requirements compared to your typical terrarium plants. Come discover clever ways to help your orchids thrive when grown in this unique way in the home.

Young Fruit Tree Pruning Demo

with Monica Maggio of Core Home Fruit.
Confused about how to prune your young (1-8 years old, or 1-8' tall) fruit trees? Join Monica of Core Home Fruit to learn about the proper pruning techniques, tools and timing to maximize fruit production and increase overall health and beauty. Monica will guide you through the steps of pruning your young fruit trees with live demonstrations and detailed visuals. Come and see how to shape your trees for long-term strength and abundance, and gain confidence in making the right cuts!

Small Fruit Series: Raspberries, Blackberries - brambles

with Ken Whitten of Portland Nursery
The shrubs and vines of these tasty berries and fruits are key elements in an edible landscape plan. Learn about the needs and qualities of different varieties that do well in this area, and how they can make your garden beautiful as well as providing tasty fruit for fresh eating or preserving.

Gardening With The Intention of Creating Health

with Marc Scheidecker of Portland's Community Gardens Program.Marc Scheidecker, a full-time vegetable gardener, student of gardening, and one of the Garden Managers for Portland's Community Gardens Program, discusses the importance of having our methods of gardening harmonize with our goals in gardening. If health is one of our goals, then we need to have the gardening skills to match. This class discusses several ways we can start our seedlings indoors with this goal in mind, that of gardening with the intention of creating health.

Planting Bulbs Now for Summer Blooms

with Paul Taylor.Brighten your garden using stunning Spring planted blooming bulbs with the help of award winning garden designer, Paul Taylor. Paul will discuss selecting bulbs for different light and soil conditions and how to go about preparing the soil before planting. He will share some of his favorite bulb combinations for Summer interest and the best varieties for containers and cut flowers. Paul will demonstrate layering techniques for a big impact and raffle off the finished product to one lucky student!

February 21-22, 2015

Building Your Own Willow Furniture

with Brian ‘The Twig man’ Phillips.If you love the look of willow furniture, why not make your own?
Brian ‘The Twig man’ Phillips from the Willow Station, will take you through a step-by-step process allowing your creative juices to flow into a work that is unique to you! Choose to build your own rustic garden bench, chair, table, fern stand or trellis. All materials supplied, bring hammer, sack lunch, and knee pads.

Material Fee: $125 per item. Pay instructor day of class. Class partners can share fee and build one piece between them. Tell us which of the five possible items you’d like to build when registering. Class limited to 10.

The Art of Bonsai

with Al Polito of the Portland Bonsai Society.
A truly great bonsai may be hiding in your yard, on your farm, or at your local nursery--the trick is to spot it the way Michaelangelo spotted David in a chunk of marble. But you really don't need Michaelangelo's artistic genius, you just need to know a great trunk when you see one--or how to make one. In this class we'll explore what makes a great trunk, the foundation of any great bonsai. Common techniques will get you the rest of the way.

Raising Your Own Vegetable Transplants

with Tim Lanfri of Community Garden Creators.Have you ever wondered if you should start a vegetable from seed or go ahead and purchase the starter plant? And what about choosing Heirloom verses regular varieties, or how to even properly start vegetables from seed? Then there’s the fertilizing, the type of growing environment, and finally knowing when to move the plants outside? These are common conundrums. Let Tim Lanfri of Community Garden Creators demystify how to raise your own vegetable transplants in this highly informative and useful class.

Small Fruit Series: Grapes

with Ken Whitten of Portland Nursery
The shrubs and vines of these tasty berries and fruits are key elements in an edible landscape plan. Learn about the needs and qualities of different varieties that do well in this area, and how they can make your garden beautiful as well as providing tasty fruit for fresh eating or preserving.

Keep It Simple: Easy Harvest Pruning

with Ann Ralph, author of “Grow a Little Fruit Tree”.
Grow your own fruit in even the smallest backyard! Timed pruning offers a revolutionary approach to fruit tree care. Prune in winter for shape; summer prune to keep trees small and easy. This class covers fruit tree basics: the mechanics of pruning, how to prune for short stature and easy harvest, early training, seasonal routines, and pest and disease control. Participants leave this workshop confident in new pruning skills and relieved to discover that you don’t need a degree in agriculture to manage a fruit tree.

February 28-March 1, 2015

Hands On Raised Bed Gardening

with Portland Nursery's Tiffany Garner.Join staff member Tiffany Garner for the first in a monthly series of raised bed veggie garden classes. These hands-on classes will take place outside at our display veggie beds so be prepared for the weather. The raised bed classes are a monthly event that will cover what you need to do, when you should be doing it & the proper techniques so you can work smarter, not harder. From cold frames to compost & seeds to starts we will learn and grow alongside our raised beds.

Intro to Fruit Trees

with Bill Wilder of Portland Nursery.
Come learn about selecting good fruit trees for your needs and your garden’s design. Bill will share a wealth of information about the trees’ soil, water, light, air, pollination and fertilization needs to help you plant and care for the tree successfully.

Spring Herbal Tonics

with Missy Rohs of the Arctos School.Early Spring is a great time to focus on supporting your health through gentle cleanses and healing herbs. Missy Rohs of the Arctos School will discuss seasonal tonic herbs and delicious ways to ingest them. Along the way, she'll talk about proper foraging guidelines and local sources for purchasing the ingredients -- if they're not in your garden already!

Growing Strawberries & Blueberries

with Ken Whitten of Portland Nursery
Are you interested in growing fruit? Strawberries and blueberries are a great place to start! Learn about the needs and qualities of different varieties that do well in this area, and how they can make your garden beautiful as well as providing tasty fruit for fresh eating or preserving.

Being Successful with Roses in the NW

with Rich Baer of the Portland Rose Society Master Rosarian.
Join Rose Society President and Master Rosarian Rich Baer for a basic class on roses: selecting roses, siting and planting them, and caring for them so they will bloom their best. Feel the Rose City pride, and pride in your own roses, whether they are for landscape or vase.

Planning a Medicinal Herb Garden

with Gradey Proctor from the Arctos School
Learn how to put together your own herbal medicine kit from your own backyard. Gradey will discuss herbs that you can grow at home, planting and care methods and how to use them to stay in good health. He'll also mention a few common weeds that you might like to keep around for their medicinal uses!